Greenwood Lake renews search for high school

Greenwood Lake — The Greenwood Lake School District has reopened its search for a new high school, inviting the Chester and Warwick school districts to return to discussions.

BY JOHN SULLIVAN

Greenwood Lake — The Greenwood Lake School District has reopened its search for a new high school, inviting the Chester and Warwick school districts to return to discussions.

The decision by Greenwood Lake's school board cancels the June 19 referendum in which voters were to decide whether to extend a five-year contract to continue educating high-schoolers in Tuxedo. The decision also reopens discussions with the Warwick and Chester districts, which had shown an interest in taking Greenwood Lake students.

The board's decision to rescind the vote on Tuxedo came amid demands by Greenwood Lake residents for more input in the decision-making process.

Chester Superintendent Sean Michel said he knew of Greenwood Lake's change, but had yet to receive information about the next step. Warwick district spokeswoman Maureen Westphal offered the same response.

The Greenwood Lake school board will meet again June 13.

On its website, the district states that the "Board and Administrative staff will go back to reconsider all options including parental choice and any regional high school legislation." Parental choice would give parents the option to send their children to Tuxedo, Chester or Warwick, while a regional high school system would serve a number of school districts, similarly to the way a BOCES provides services to various districts.

Greenwood Lake teens have gone to Tuxedo for 30 years. Greenwood Lake students now make up the majority of the students — 297 out of 377 — at Tuxedo's George F. Baker High School.

However, the district does not receive much state aid to send students to Tuxedo, resulting in a high tuition rate. Chester and Warwick have offered to take Greenwood Lake students at tuitions at least $3,000 less than Tuxedo's annual offer of $12,500 per student.

jsullivan@th-record.com

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